Photographer's Note

The Foothills of the Rocky Mountains are cattle country, and that's because the snow never gets to be too deep. This would be typical, just a couple of inches of snow with the grass poking trough. The strong, warm Chinook winds descend from the mountains blowing away part of the snow and evaporating the other. So the cattle roam freely year around, with a supplement of hey in the winter, before turning with some friendly help of course into the rather famous "Alberta beef".
Now regarding the strong rule of landscape photography "shoot before 10 am and after 4 pm, when the light isn't too harsh": it doesn't apply so well at 52 deg North. This image was shot at noon. At 4 pm, the sun sets.

You have certainly captured the essence of the foothills in winter, Roland. Your POV here is excellent as is depth of field. The artistic arrangement of the hay bales is obviously well thought out. Perhaps some slight noise in the sky. This is a very good contribution to a very scenic part of the country.

Great colours, your polariser has to lot to tahnk for I guess. The composotion is is really nice. The viewer can really feel that crisp winter pinch. The Rockies in the background provide a wonderful backdrop, I would love to ride my MTB up to them.
Well done.